Whisky Custard Cupcakes

January 25 is when Scots celebrate the birth of the poet Robert Burns and to mark the occasion Cuckoo's Bakery in Edinburgh has devised a delicious recipe for a whisky custard cupcake to accompany your Burns Supper.

Makes 12

Ingredients:

165g plain flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

165g butter, room temperature

175g caster sugar

Directions:

1. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake cases.

2. Cream the butter and sugar for 2 minutes using an electric hand mixer.

3. Crack the eggs into a jug and lightly beat them with the vanilla extract.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder on top of the creamed butter and sugar mixture.

5. Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl.

6. Mix them with an electric hand mixer at a medium speed for two minutes.

7. Divide the batter among the cases.

8. Bake for 18 minutes at 180C. Press lightly on top of the cakes – if they spring back they are ready.

9. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack if possible.

Whisky Buttercream:

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter at room temperature

• 275g icing sugar

• 4 tablespoons of whisky

Directions:

1. Place the butter into a mixing bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer until soft and whippy

2. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl and slowly blend with the hand mixer.

3. Increase the speed of the hand mixer slightly and beat together for 4 to 5 minutes.

4. Add the whisky and mix everything together with the hand mixer for a further one minute at a slow speed.

Whisky Custard Filling:

Ingredients:

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tablespoon plain flour

• 2 tablespoons of caster sugar

• 140ml of milk

• 3 tablespoons of whisky

Directions:

1. Mix the egg yolk, flour and sugar in a heavy bottom pan until combined.

2. Pour the milk in to a separate pan and, at a medium heat, stir it until it is almost at boiling point. Do not let it boil. Remove from the pan from the hob.

3. Place the other pan on to the hob at medium heat and slowly pour the hot milk on top of the mixture, stirring continuously. Keep stirring for 5 to 10 minutes on the medium heat until the custard thickens.

4. Let the mixture cool and finally stir in the three tablespoons of whisky.

To Fill and Decorate:

1. Using an apple corer, core out the centre of each cooled cake.

2. Fill the cored out cake with the whisky custard and replace the cored out sponge back into the cake.

3. Frost each of the cakes with the whisky buttercream using a palette knife or piping bag and nozzle.

4. Have fun decorating them with sugar sprinkles, or get adventurous and use a ready to roll fondant icing to mould your own edible tribute to the great Robert Burns!